Vehicle door lock



feb.,

Filed March 12,1924 2 Sheets-Sheet l Feb. 17. 1925. '1,526,323

J. DE JOHN VEHI CLE DOOR LOCK Filed March 12, 1924 2 sneets-shet@nue/Moz To all 'whom it may concern.'

Patented Feb.17, 1925.

" JOSEPH DE JOHN, or DETRorr, MICHIGAN.

VEHICLE DOOR 14005K.l

Application filed March 12,

vBe it known that I. JOSEPH DE Jol-ni, a

i l. subjcct of the King of Great'iBritain, resid- Ving at Detroit,county oflVaync, State of Mlchigan, have invented a certain new anduseful Improvement 1n Vehicle Door Locks,

and declare the following to be a full, clear,

and exact description of the same, such as will enable others skilled inthe art to which it pertains 'to make and use the saine, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings, which formlaipart of this speci llication.

This invention relates to vehicle door locks, and has for'its object animproved construction, by means' of which, in a fourdoor sedan. forinstance, but two locks are necessary, one on each lside' of thevehicle, each one like the other, and each lock being located in thepillar or upright between lthe adjacent fr ee swinging edges of thedoors, the selective opening of one or theother of which is regulated bythe direction in which the handle is turned, either from the vinside orfrom the outside. My invention not only makes possible the reduction ofthe necessary numberof locks from four to two and their all being of onesort, but as well avoids of a pair of doors.

the-.necessity of there Abeing a4 lock with, its appurtenant projectinghandles ony the edge of the door, upon which ones clothin othe-i-,

wise easily catches when entering or the vehicle.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is an elevational view `of one of my locksinstalled in the pillar of the lvehicle body, and iianked bythe freeswinging edges` eaving Figure 2 is a plan view taken along the line 2-2of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is an elevational view of the lock, with the containedoperative parts dotted in in their proper relative positions.'

F gure 4 is a perspective o f a preferred form of latch.

Figure 5 is a artly sectional elevational view similar to t at of Figure3, butushowing lthe operative parts contained within the housing in fulllines.'v

Fi re 6 is a view similar to- Figure 5, but showlng the locking elementinactive, and with the possible swing of the locking lever indicated indotted line positions. l

Figure 7 i is a sectional side elevational view taken along the line77of Figure I. A' indicates the pillar .of the vehicle top,

` 1924. serial No. 698,77.

suitably cut away portion of the pillar is the lock E, whose shell may,if desired, be provided with projections D,'for insuring the accurateand firm installation of the housing in the wood of the pillar. Thedoors B and C are provided with the latch recesses l", such as areusually found inthe door frame. whereas the latches G and H arelimitedly slidable in a horizontal plane in the housing E. Each of theselatches, as brought ou't particularly in Figures 4, 5 and 6, has aninwardly. extending branch, as g and z, at the end of which areupstanding knobs g2 and la?, and as brought out@ in Figures 5 and 6particularly, these projections of the respective latches lie one abovean-` other, each entire latch being, yieldingliy,

it thelever-L is rdcked, the latch-engaging portion of the lever can, asbrought out in Figure 6, rock limitedly in either direction,y

without encountering the outer bulkier portionof the latch, though as tothe cut-away and projecting portion respectively of the other latchpiece, the swing of the lever L `serves `toretra'ct, it againstthepressure of its .spring g3 or h3; thus, `if the outside handle whoseinner end carries 1s turned to the right, the latch H, which' controlsthe openingl of the door C, is vretracted. If the outside handle: I isswung to the left, the latch Gr, which controlsthe *i possible openingof the door B, is retracted.

If the inside handle is actuatedin the same direction as regards thevouter, just therevilerse of these opening operationswould take p ace. i

In order to provide for locking of the interior of the vehicle againstaccess from the outside, I make the-lever L of such length thatit'lreaches below the latch pieces and the lowermost 'one of the fixed.latch ides N, so that its lower tip can engage 1n the suitably receedportion P of the pivoted dog Q, another portion )of whose .freelyswinging periphery is provided with a. deep Aindentation R, whichengages in the eccentric 'and partially peripheral slot T, in therotatable drum S, Which may be co-ntrollably actuated to either lockingor unlocking position ofthe dog With respect to the lever L,

rby means of a key inserted in the combination or tumbler look V, thusloc-king both doors at once. ln the case of the doo-rsI on the off orleft hand side of the "ehicle, in place ofthe removable key-controlledlock, there may be provided a non-removable key,

`actuatedfro-m the inside to` locking position by turmng through aquarter turn. 1n a manner now used on some vehicles.

- In order to accelerate the prompt outward swing of either door Whenits latch re` members each capableof independent movement to and ro, a.manually rockable shaft provided with a depending portion adapted toretraetingly engage either of said latch members, independent springmembers appurtenant to each of said latch members whereby theirretractile movement isv yieldingly opposed, and a cam-actuated lookingdog adapted-to engage thev depending portion of said roekable shaftvWhe'nthe same is in neutral position as regards said latch i members.

with a containing shell, a. pair of limitedly slidable latch membersprojectingr from either side thereof in positions of substantialalignment with one another, means for yieldingly holding each latchmember in projected position independently of the other. a rockable'shaft engaging through said shell transversely of the path of possiblemovement of said latch members, means carried by said shaft foroperatively engaging either one of said latch members to edect itsretraction against the pressure of its spring While leaving the otherlatch member unactuated, and externally actuatab-lemeans for lockingsaid last-mentioned means in neutral position.

3. In a door catch, the combination. with a housing, of a. rookableshaft engaging theret-hrough. a projecting lever carried by saidrockable shaft. a locking dog normally out of engaging position withrespect to said lever, a key-actuatable cam whereby said locking dog maybe raised to locking position with respect to said lever when the latteris in neutral position, a pair of limitedly slidable latch memberspositioned in substantial alignment in the sides of the housing andadapted to be retracted by the swin of said lever against one or theother. and

separate spring members for yieldingly' holding said latch members inprojected position.

In testimony whereof I sign this specification in thepresence of twoWitnesses.

E. A. DE JOHN, WILLIAM M. SWAN.

